About the authors: R Kamadjeu is a
managing editor of the Pan African Medical Journal; he works with the US
Centers for Disease Control and is based in Atlanta (USA). David Mukanga is the
Executive director of AFENET and is based in Kampala (Uganda). L Tsague is a managing editor of the Pan African Medical Journal; he works with
the International Center for Aids Care and Treatment Programs and is based in Kigali (Rwanda)

Send request for information to:
editor@panafrican-med-journal.com

In October 2008, the executive director of
the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), David Mukanga and the managing
editor of the Pan African Medical Journal (Pamj), Raoul Kamadjeu, signed a
memorandum of understanding establishing the terms for future involvement of
AFENET in open access publishing through the Pamj.

According to the agreement, AFENET will
become the institutional backbone of the journal and will host an editorial
office of the journal in its headquarters in Kampala, Uganda. Both parties will work toward achieving and maintaining the highest quality of published
products with the aim of positioning the journal as one of the leading biomedical
publication on the African continent.

Established
in 2005 as a non-profit organization, AFENET is working in partnership with
Ministries of Health, non-government organizations, international agencies,
private sector, and other public health agencies to enhance or develop African
nations’ applied epidemiology capacity. The mission of AFENET is to improve the
health of people in Africa by strengthening and expanding applied epidemiology
and laboratory capacity on the African continent. From its humble beginnings in
2005, AFENET has grown from a four-country organization to a 9-member country
organization with operations in more than 15 African countries. AFENET’s
achievements include: technical and financial support to existing and new Field
Epidemiology Training programs; support for capacity building through short
courses in French West Africa (Togo, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso), Nigeria,
Tanzania, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Uganda; Participation of Field Epidemiology Training
Program (FETP) trainees in outbreak and other field investigations including
Cholera in Kenya, Ebola, Marburg, plague, in Uganda, H5N1 in Nigeria; support
to Ministries of Health in public health surveillance, and outbreak
investigation; supporting countries to build capacity for implementation of the
International Health Regulations, and response to the threat of Zoonotic
diseases.

Planned activities for 2009 include:
support for FETP trainees to undertake operations research through a
competitive grant making process (AFENET Trainee grants program); establishment
of collaborating centers for Non Communicable Disease Surveillance; a center of
excellence for management and leadership training in Accra, Ghana; and,
Experience@afenet, a fellowship program that provides an opportunity for graduates
of African FETPs and other public health professionals from around the world to
work with AFENET in areas of global health.

In addition to positioning Pamj as one of
the premier open access biomedical journal on the African continent, this
convergence of missions will leverage the potential within AFENET to stimulate
and expand open access biomedical publishing from African scientist in the
years to come. We are more than ever before aware of the urgent need to bring
to higher standards, biomedical publishing in Africa. AFENET training expertise
in scientific writing and alumni network will support this endeavor through
mentoring junior African writers. One of our mid-term objectives is indexation
of Pamj contents to major biomedical indexes, including the US National Library
of Medicine by the end of the year 2009.

Finally, we welcome partnerships with
other existing medical journals on the African continent as we move into the
implementation stage of the partnership between Pamj and AFENET.